A tragic story of an elderly man who killed his wife with Alzheimer’s disease brought fresh attention to the need to improve care services and social assistance for dementia patients.

The police arrested Tuesday the 78-year-old man who strangled his wife, apparently under huge psychological and physical strain from taking care of his wife for the last two years.

The man, identified only by his surname Lee, had been looking after his wife full-time, but killed her on Oct. 19, as he couldn’t deal with her worsening mental and physical condition anymore, officers at Yeongdeungpo Police Station said.

The man confessed to his son who came home after receiving his father’s urgent phone call. His son blocked his attempt to jump out of his apartment window, police officers said.

Critics say the case reflects how family members with dementia patients are under enormous stress and therefore, a growing number of people are making tragic choices. The government needs to step up efforts to provide a comprehensive and a wider range of dementia supports to patients and their families, they said.

According to a report by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, about 534,000 people have dementia in Korea. The number is expected to reach 800,000 by the year 2020 and 1 million in 2020.

Critics argue that if the government fails to expand its service for dementia patients and families, the number of tragic incidents will grow. The number of reports of patients with Alzheimer’s disease missing or abandoned is also growing. About 5,820 dementia patients were reported missing this year, according to the National Korean Police Agency,

The problem is that the government is offering only a limited support for dementia patients, imposing most of the responsibilities on patients’ families.

The long-term care insurance system, launched in 2008, offers up to 1.14 million won per month to dementia patients for treatment and caring service. But every three out of four patients are not entitled to benefits mainly because they do not qualify as beneficiaries, according to reports.

“Many patients fail to get the insurance benefits because their physical condition looks okay even though they’ve lost most of their cognitive abilities,” an expert said.

The government also offers 30,000 won per month to dementia patients, but only to those who are from low-income families.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare set aside a 24.6 billion won budget to support dementia patients next year but the support will continue to focus on low-income families. Making investment in building new care institutions or increasing the number of care-givers to families with dementia patients are not being considered, officials said.

By Cho Chung-un (christory@heraldcorp.com)